Heritability of juniper consumption in goats.
Data from goats (n = 505), collected over a 4-yr period, were used to estimate the heritability of juniper consumption. Juniper consumption was determined by near-infrared spectroscopy on fecal samples (n = 1,080) collected from female Boer-cross goats grazing pastures with a variety of plants, including juniper. The animals with records were progeny of 72 sires. Individual goats had from 1 to 4 observations over a 4-yr period. Predicted juniper consumption for individual observations ranged from -5 to +62% of the diet. Data were analyzed with a mixed model that included management group as a fixed effect, BW as a covariate, and permanent environment, animal, and residual as random effects. Management group was a significant source of variation. Least squares means of juniper consumption, as a percentage of the total intake, for management groups varied from 19 to 47%. Heritability of juniper consumption was 13%. Repeatability of juniper consumption was 31%. These results suggest that progress to selection for goats that will consume greater amounts of juniper is obtainable, but is expected to be slow.
Waldron
D F
DF
Texas AgriLife Research, San Angelo, TX 76901, USA. d-waldron@tamu.edu
Taylor
C A
CA
Walker
J W
JW
Campbell
E S
ES
Lupton
C J
CJ
Willingham
T D
TD
Landau
S Y
SY
D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary*; D004435:Eating / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006041:Goats / Q000235:genetics*; D018653:Juniperus; D008297:Male; D010572:Pest Control, Biological